Grammies Inspirations are Covered in Thread

Welcome to my journey

I design art quilts, table runners, table toppers, mug rugs, place mats, wall hangings, and quilts and sell them on Etsy. I sew from chosen patterns and well as create unique patterns for custom and commission work.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

I have a digital design student coming over on Thursday. I am going to show her my blog, Etsy shop, Pinterest pages, and my pattern ideas. I am hoping she can help me develop a consistent look that I can use for these pages as well as business cards, thank-you cards and pattern packaging. I have worked with Monica through the school year at the pre-school where we work. She is hardworking, funny, and most of all, young! I would like a fresh modern look. I need pictures of my process and updated photos of my quits and items for sale. I also told her that my having to meet with her regularly commits me to deadlines, something I really need. Welcome Monica!

Friday, May 30, 2014

It's thundering. Not usually a problem but in the last five years our home has been hit by lightening three times. So, if it thunders, we run around unplugging everything.

It did take me away from my sewing machine. I am currently creating a t-shirt quilt for a client. She contacted me on Etsy and sent her shirts all the way from Hawaii. I am flattered that I was chosen to make her quilt. It's fun to see t-shirts from an area I haven't been before. It's also wonderful to share a bit of someone's history with them.

By moving away from my sewing machine, I sat down at my design table and started working on a new pattern. This one has cats and bees involved in it and playing with the different facial expressions has been enjoyable. It's interesting to see how just a slight change in a line add create a completely different mood in my cat.

But why is the day funny. I've been to my computer, my machine, my design board and a few other places. One of those places is now the home of my glasses! They blend into many backgrounds and at the moment I do not know where they are.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

I'm committed to create my first pattern for publication. I purchased EQ7, Electric Quilt 7 to help with drawing. There is a steep learning curve, but that is because I am jumping straight in with drawing the original design.

I have tried coloring and editing established patterns that are in the quilt libraries. That is fun. I could sit and play with that feature for hours! But I need to focus on reality and learn the harder stuff. I think once I get going it will all fall into place.

I bet you're wondering what the new pattern looks like. Hint... it involves heaven and earth....

Thursday, September 12, 2013

I've been hired to make a quilted banner representing the state of Texas. The vertical banner will include the Texas star, a blue bonnet and a pecan tree. I will use raw edge applique, thread painting, and FMQ. The blue bonnet will be similar to this one (perhaps two), but with a darker background.

The trick will be that the person I'm doing the commission for wants a dark blue background. I need to be sure to provide enough contrast between the flower and the background. At the moment, I am trying to decide between two Kona Bay solids Razz-05 and Pass 05 as the background. The rest of the blue bonnet will come from my many batik scraps, some the same colors shown here.

The pecan tree will have an outline of the tree made by thread painting and a close up of the leaves and husks from clip art similar to this. I'll draw the outline of the tree on wash away stabilizer. This worked very well on another commission I did.

Again thread will create the detail and batiks will provide the shading.

The third element in the quilt comes from the client. She sent me this picture of a TX star.

The trick will be to get the shadowing just right so that the star still has the mosaic pattern and dimension. The outer stones have some crackling in it. A very fine, maybe grey, thread for that. I am going to add a little extra batting under the star because I want the quilting to create some depth.

I'm going to make each of the three parts separately as they are all quite different in the way they will be quilted. I'll probably do "quilt as you go" and then join the three pieces with a narrow sashing. The quilt as you go will work well for the three panels, but I'll have to decide how to create the outer border. At this point, I think it will be a very narrow border.

Back to looking at fabrics......... This project is due to the client in three weeks and at the moment I work from 7:30 to 3:30, so I will be a busy bee in the evenings.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

If I add this to my blog, I'll know where it is when I need it. Quiltsy Team just put it up on Facebook. I love the look of blocks set on point, but I've been too lazy to look for this chart and end up with straight square sets. By posting this where I can find it I created more potential to design on point.

Recently I looked at my walls in my kitchen, bathroom, kid's room, and studio and thought - I need more quilts on the walls.

Keep in mind these are not huge walls - they're small spaces that will hold very small quilts (max around 15 inches wide).

But small quilts are very...well...small and lightweight. It seems like such a ridiculous amount of effort to install a curtain rod system and stitch a sleeve to these quilts when the space is so small and the quilt weights almost nothing.

So I started searching, and searching, and searching...and eventually found this!

This is wall clip created by Command 3M. Unfortunately it's not a very common item so I couldn't find it in any local stores and had to order it from Amazon.com.

So I ordered several packs and they came yesterday and, to my absolute delight, they work perfectly to hold lightweight quilts on the wall securely!

Unfortunately they are quite ugly. As Josh said: "Nothing looks cheaper than that white plastic." so I pulled out my acrylic paint and painted a set black, which looked much better.

Then I remembered my Jacquard metallic paints and painted Pewter over the dried black acrylic to create a clip that almost looks metal!

The best thing about these is the fact that they put no holes in the wall. They stick nicely with the adhesive strip, which can last for years if my other hooks in the house are any judge.

Friday, August 30, 2013

I had so much fun doing the first mug rug that I decided to do two more. What I really wanted were more opportunities to thread paint and I might as well make something useful at the same time. So I'll show you a picture of the next one I made, but won't take you through the process.

Then I started working on a fabric with purple and pink orchids. Fun!

First, I started the negative space, the area between the flowers. I practiced doing miniature free motion designs with black piecing thread.

It made this fun spider web look on the back. Something I'm going to think about in a future design.

Then I began to paint the flowers. I wanted to take advantage of the shading that already existed in the fabric. I used thread that was similar in color but would help make the shading pop.

I also wanted to take advantage of the change in texture created by the threads through the batting (80/20 cotton polyester).